Absurdity and ridiculousness at its best

In the interest of full disclosure I would like to pre-apologize for any offensive language in this blog. I often try to keep my blogs relatively clean but after this past week it just seems unreasonable. I actually wrote this twice. The first time was an incoherent rant filled with a slew of curse words and colorful language.

On July 18th I went to mid-service training with the rest of group 32. It was really nice to see everyone again and I even learned a few good techniques for classroom management. Two days later I went to the all volunteer conference (AVC) where we ate delicious food, used high speed internet, drank significant amounts of beer, and sat in on guest speakers. The Deputy Minister of Education gave a speech and so did the Director of Education for Hardap region. The highlight of the conference was meeting the ambassador from the US to Namibia. We had a meet and greet at her house, which was large and beautiful, where we ate pizza and there was draft beer. Draft beer isn’t something we get often so it was a good change up. That was the good part of the week, now for the bad.

During AVC I received a text saying my dog was sick. The next day I got a call saying it would cost N$3000 and the dog needs to go to a hospital. Not having the money for this I asked my counterpart to take care of it. Later I received a text that said “dog done” and I believed my dog was dead. That night I got a call from Mrs. Pretorius where she said “Ernest (my dog) is responding well to medicine and might recover,” I was ecstatic. I came home Saturday the 23rd and retrieved my dog from the Pretorius house. Ernest immediately responded to the sound of my voice, though he was weak and sickly, he raised his head and tried to get up. Mrs. Pretorius gave me the medicine and some food and I carried the sick puppy back to my flat. I fed him medicine with a syringe, gave him a warm towel in his box, placed it next to a heater, and gave him lots of food and water. In the middle of the night he started having severe seizures, foaming at the mouth, and he became unable to control his bodily fluids. In the morning the two volunteers (PCVs) staying with me for the weekend left to run errands while I watched the dog. I put warm water in the bath tub and moved him so he could piss and shit without making my flat gross. I gave him water using the syringe and tried to make him comfortable. He died as I was petting him and I was miserable. This was the only time I thought about coming home since I left nearly a year ago.

Now earlier I mentioned there were two other PCV’s and I mentioned the dog had seizures and foamed at the mouth. These two were worried about rabies. I was just depressed. They called the medical officer and it was determined that we should all be put on rabies quarantine and then come to Windhoek for additional rabies shots. That’s right, fucking rabies quarantine. One of the PCVs and I were told to stay in Rehoboth for quarantine and not venture out too much though I was allowed to attend school. I never in my life thought that I would be put on quarantine for anything let alone a disease that, if untreated, kills 100% of the time. The absurdity and ridiculousness begins and I spin out of control, losing my fucking mind in the process.

I return to school the following day only to find that 8D has decided my classroom would be better if they broke my desk. That afternoon we had a meeting where all the teachers argued for more corporal punishment. I kept my mouth shut until I was asked to speak by another teacher. I spoke concisely and passionately about not beating children but was mostly ignored me. However I managed to convince one teacher to stop corporal punishment. Hooray for small victories, otherwise this place would eat you alive. I returned to my flat where my quarantine buddy and I make some mac and cheese. Sometimes mac and cheese is the best food ever. Wednesday I got slightly yelled at for not having my end of term exams ready. They weren’t ready because I was at a conference and then getting rabies shots. I quickly worked with two other teachers to get exams prepared. Wednesday was uninteresting except for the fact that my immune system is in a state of shock. I received a flu shot and a hepatitis shot, and a rabies shot, and went to school where half of my learners are sick. I cough so hard my chest hurts.

Thursday I go back to Windhoek with my quarantine buddy and speak with the medical officer only this time she notices the cough and writes a prescription for some over the counter cough medicine to knock loose the phlegm in my lungs. I get another shot and wonder how many vaccines are too many. Friday my school has an American day. American day is when the learners pay two dollars and are allowed to wear clothes other than the school uniform. No teaching occurs and I sit around solving IT problems for my HOD and colleagues. Since my absence, many computers seem to have developed random IT problems that I fix. My cough is getting worse and the medicine seems useless. Ricky, Liz and Anna come over for pizza Friday night. It was a successful night of bitching. My roommate Mitra left to take a week off from school and go to Zambia on vacation. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so committed. That way I could go on vacation in the middle of a term. Shit I’ve only take 4 sick days this term and spent most of it with some form of flu/cough/rabies.

Some other little things annoyed me too but they aren't important enough to mention on my blog.